Movie Time at the Lakou

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

While up at the lakou Mawiyah and I ran into Madison Smart-Bell, the author of All Souls Rising, who has a house nearby and knows Mashoun well. I had a copy of a promotional DVD that I made about Fondwa in my bag, so I asked if he would like to see it. He half tumbled over in laughter at the thought of having a DVD player at this historic lakou; he actually fell on the ground when Mashoun’s nephew Youyou said they had one! When Mawiyah last visited the lakou two months ago, it was completely without electricity and modern appliances. Now, thanks to Youyou’s return from the United States, it boasts a generator, a 32-inch Sony TV, a DVD and video-cassette player, and two 50-inch speakers. It is one decked-out lakou.

In the evenings, the lakou turns into the community’s entertainment center. Youyou turns on the generator, and music or films are played for a few hours. Violent action-packed American films from the ‘80’s seem to be everyone’s favorite. No one understands a word of what is being said, but they get the gist nonetheless: everyone claps when the bad guy gets it.